1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting the position of a target image, and to a program for controlling this apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the subject of photography is a person, often it is desired that the portion of the subject image that is the face be imaged attractively. In order to accomplish this, there are instances where the face-image portion is detected from within the image of the subject. There are cases where a plurality of face detections are performed with regard to the same image in order to raise the accuracy of face detection (see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-216935).
Further, in a situation in which images of a subject are applied one after another, there are instances where an area in the vicinity of a face image detected in the immediately preceding frame of the subject image is stipulated as an area for detecting the face image portion in the present frame of the subject image (see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-15979).
However, if erroneous detection is performed in the preceding frame of the image of the subject, this may have an effect upon detection in subsequent frames of subject images. The detection accuracy may become low.